Importance of Life Areas

Abstract

Research on retirement often does not indicate how specific tasks of life may change with withdrawal from work. Studies of job deprivation assess the extent to which persons miss aspects of the work place, but they typically do not indicate replacements for work or how the loss of work affects other specific areas of life (for example, family, community, and leisure). Presumably, the level of commitment and the meaning attached to each domain of life would occupy a different place in an individual’s value system at various times. One would expect that a transition such as retirement, which clearly entails withdrawal from a major life area, might be accompanied by a shift in commitment to other domains of activity. This chapter examines the influence of occupation and employment status on several characteristics of the domains of work, family, leisure, and community among older rural men. Because of the presumed importance of the family, a major focus was on the work-family role system.